Rail link effort between Blissfield and Toledo continues

Sunday

Jan 12, 2014 at 11:00 AM

By Dennis PelhamDaily Telegram Staff Writer

The hunt continues for financing to re-establish a railroad link between Blissfield and Toledo.

The Adrian & Blissfield Rail Road Co. lost out in 2013 grant awards through the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program. The application will be renewed for the next round, and other sources of financing are being pursued, said railroad owner Mark Dobronski.

“We’re still trying. We’re getting a lot of help from local governments,” Dobronski said.

The project was considered an important step in attracting new industry to the county.

Five to six miles of track between Riga and Ottawa Lake were torn out about 30 years ago when the line was not being used. It now takes several days to ship freight cars from Blissfield on a 600-mile circuit through Indiana to get them on eastbound rails through Toledo, said Dobronski.

Rebuilding the rail link through Ottawa Lake was estimated to cost up to $7 million. The grant application included another $7 million to rehabilitate a bridge in Adrian.

The project was not among 52 projects in 37 states that are sharing $474 million in grant funds awarded last fall.“We were very disappointed with that,” said Jim Van Doren, executive director of Lenawee Now.

“But we have all the materials assembled, and when the next round of TIGER funding becomes available we will be ready to apply again,” Van Doren said.

Grant money is not needed to subsidize the railroad project, said Dobronski.

“It’ll pay for itself. The savings that will be made in not going the long way around will pay for the program,” he said. Loans from private sources have not been available for the project, however, he said. Banks do not seem interested in rails and ties as collateral for a loan, he said.

There is a financing program run by the Federal Railroad Administration, he said, but the application process is complicated and may take years.

“We’re working on it,” Dobronski said. He said he remains confident the rail link to Toledo will eventually be rebuilt.